Driver shot in the head

What looked like a routine auto accident turned into a murder investigation for Athens-Clarke police Saturday afternoon.

The victim was identified as Judy Ann Harris Hall, 38, of 250 Washington Drive, Athens. A Crawford man who had been riding in the car with her was charged with murder following the incident.

Police responded to calls about an accident with a serious injury on the Athens Perimeter near North Avenue, and when the first officer arrived at about 3:15 p.m. he saw a red car facing the wrong way on an inside emergency lane of the perimeter.

A witness later told police the car had come down the on ramp from North Avenue onto the perimeter, then veered into a grass area, possibly going airborne before coming to a stop in an emergency lane.

As the police officer got out of his police cruiser, a man began walking toward the officer from the passenger side of the red car.

The man, later identified as Wayne Terry Welborn of 22 Huntington Lane, Crawford, had his hands in the air as he walked toward the police officer. There appeared to be blood on Welborn's left arm and the left side of his clothing, the police officer noted in an incident report.

Believing Welborn to be hurt in the accident, the officer asked the man if he was all right, but the man just kept walking toward the police officer with his hands in the air.

''I killed her, I killed her,'' said Welborn, 45, but the police officer didn't know what he was talking about.

As Welborn got closer, however, the officer saw what appeared to be human tissue on the man's clothing, and Welborn was handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car after the officer asked Welborn again if he was hurt, and Welborn said no.

The police officer then went to the red car. A woman was partially slumped over in the driver's seat, with a gunshot wound to the head. The driver's side window was gone, and pieces of glass lay on the door.

The officer saw a large silver-colored revolver, likely a 44 magnum, on the passenger's side front floorboard.

Welborn was charged with murder and jailed. No bond was set pending a hearing before a Superior Court judge.

This article published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, October 1, 2001.